Heard Him Talk But He’d Never Spoken

The Howling Hex “Hammer and Bluebird” – Neil Hagerty achieves a focused yet thoroughly zoned-out Zen sort of rock on Nightclub Version of the Eternal, and by that I don’t mean just on this song or a portion of the selections — I’m talking about the entire seven track, 52 minute duration. The album, which is essentially a collection of lengthy grooves, zonked chants, and lateral jams, sounds as though it was recorded in a fugue state. On one hand, it’s one of the more self-indulgent records of Hagerty’s career, but it’s also one of the most natural and free, with its zombie vocals and matter-of-fact noodling seeming like the product of a man who has plugged his unconscious mind directly into the soundboard. (Click here to buy it from Drag City.)

Excepter “The ‘Rock’ Stepper” – If you can imagine a version of Girls Against Boys (oh yes, remember when you could say “GVSB” in indie circles and not mean Gorilla Vs. Bear?) that had never flamed out with that really lame faux-industrial album that they recorded for Geffen, and kept going with the creepy druggy sex vibe of House of GVSB , it would probably sound a hell of a lot like this, especially if none of the band’s members slept at any point between 1998 and right now. This isn’t the most representative track in the Excepter catalog, but part of the beauty of it, and especially this year’s Alternation LP, is that there doesn’t really seem to be one in spite of their fairly distinct aesthetic overall. (Click here to buy it from Insound.)